Among people aged 75 years who have been taking statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), statin discontinuation is associated with a 33% increased risk of admission to hospital for cardiovascular events. This finding comes from an observational study that included individuals from the French national health-care system who had turned 75 years of age in 2012–2014, had no history of CVD and had been adherent to statin therapy for ≥2 years. Statin discontinuation was defined as three consecutive months without exposure. Of the 120,173 people included in the analysis, 14.3% discontinued statins and 4.5% were admitted to hospital for a cardiovascular event during the 2.4 years of follow-up (HR 1.33, 95% CI 1.18–1.50). The association was stronger for coronary events than for cerebrovascular events (increased risk 46% versus 26%).
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Giral, P. et al. Cardiovascular effect of discontinuing statins for primary prevention at the age of 75 years: a nationwide population-based cohort study in France. Eur. Heart J. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehz458 (2019)
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Fernández-Ruiz, I. Effect of statin discontinuation in elderly people. Nat Rev Cardiol 16, 578 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-019-0257-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-019-0257-3